Some legislatures are trying to create a legal way for dependent teens to get the HPV vaccine without their parents' consent

Published Aug 18, 2019 at 6:10 AM

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In this Friday, May 27, 2016, photo, certified medical assistant Karla Huerta fills a needle with the drug Gardasil, used for HPV vaccinations, at Amistad Community Health Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. In the wake of an increasingly visible anti-vaccination movement and concern over the measles outbreaks in the U.S., more state legislatures are trying to create a legal way for dependent teens to get vaccinated, in particular, the HPV shot, without their parents' consent.

Jennifer Canada remembers when her pediatrician in Middletown, Maryland, recommended a vaccine that would protect her against a virus that is known to cause several types of cancer, NBC News reports. But Canada’s mother, who had consented to all of the other recommended immunizations for her 13-year-old daughter, declined it, saying she'd heard rumors that the shots had caused the death of several girls.

It wasn’t until after beginning a career in cancer research that Canada realized how lucky she's been to avoid exposure to human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S. Now 26, she just finished the three-shot HPV vaccine series recommended for adults by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But even if Canada had wanted the HPV vaccine during that doctor visit, Maryland has no statute or regulation that allows dependent teens to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent. Neither do at least 23 other states. Generally, unless teens are legally emancipated, married or are already parents, they have no recourse when their parents or other legal guardians refuse vaccines, including the HPV shot, on their behalf.

However, in the wake of an increasingly visible anti-vaccination movement and concern over the measles outbreaks in the U.S., more state legislatures are trying to create a legal way for dependent teens to get vaccinated, in particular, the HPV shot, without their parents' consent.